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Decluttering
Communications
by Robin L. Silverman |
"Why do I feel so pressed for time?" a
woman asked me at a recent workshop. "I have it all—voicemail,
Email, faxes, a pager—you name it. It should be a snap
for me to communicate with people, but instead, I find
that my days are cluttered either by people chasing me
or me trying to find them."
As little as five years ago, few of us spent two or
more hours daily on technological communications. You
used to be able to walk into your office, receive five
or ten slips with phone messages, organize them in under
one minute, and start calling people back. Today, you
might return to your office after a meeting to find
those same five or ten messages. But now, they’re each
one minute or more on your voicemail. Retrieving your
messages—formerly a 60-second job—now takes over 10
minutes.
To add to the clutter, many of those voicemail
messages are from people who are simultaneously sending
Email and/or faxes on the same subject, for the same
reason. How often have you had a caller who says,
"I’m calling to let you know that I sent you an
Email on this?" Usually those Emails have
attachments, too. What used to be discussed in a single
phone call (which you’ll likely have to make anyway)
is now cluttered by a voicemail and an Email, adding
still more for you to unclutter before you can get to
your own priority list.
Pagers and cell phones are adding clutter, too,
layering communications on top of meetings or other
periods of supposed concentration. Once you are
interrupted this way, you not only lose momentum for
finishing what you’re doing, but must clear the
clutter before you can continue, which often means that
you cannot complete what you have started. A meeting
that is half-done usually has to get redone at some
point. Reports and projects that are interrupted end up
being patched together piecemeal as time allows.
If you have communication clutter, try some of these
quick and easy ideas to help you gain time, cut down on
miscommunications and mistakes, and clear your desk for
more important work:
- First, tell people how you’d like them to reach
you. Pick any ONE method, not several. If you check your
Email regularly, tell them to use that. If you prefer
voicemail or telephone, give out your number. Eliminate
all but your preferred method of communication from your
business card. If people complain, simply say, "If
you want me to carefully consider and respond to you,
this is how you should reach me. I tend to ignore or
delete everything else so I don’t waste my time or
yours."
- Put a Spamguard on your Email, and remove yourself
from all lists that have little or nothing to do with
your priorities at work and at home. Stop forwarding
jokes, hugs and anything else that is chain-oriented or
promises luck or trouble if you don’t.
- Have a secretary screen your calls or listen to
your voicemail, and leave you a list of who called and
why.
- Turn off your cell phone or pager during meetings,
unless you are on some kind of emergency call. Remember
that in the "old days," if you were in a
meeting, people had to wait until it was over to talk to
you. It worked then, and it still does. Concentrate on
getting the most out of where you are at the moment so
you don’t have to repeat the meeting or undo a mistake
you made because you missed something important while
you were on the phone. Stop trying to be in two places
at once.
- Organize your communications. Set aside 30-60
minutes in the morning, after lunch and before you go
home at night to write letters, answer Email, or return
calls. Don’t let communications clutter filter into
the rest of your workday. Schedule the time as you would
a meeting, and make a habit of it (P.S. It takes 21 days
to create a new habit, so be patient with yourself.)
- If you haven’t acted or responded to something
within one week, delegate or delete it.
- Make sure all meetings have four things: 1) a start
time that is rock-solid. I know of one executive who
actually locks the door at the precise moment the
meeting is to start; 2) A simple agenda of two or three
points that can be concluded in one hour. Meetings that
go on longer than that are usually unproductive; 3) A
known and explained reason for you to be in attendance.
Come prepared to share what is required to create the
necessary solution, and you’ll save a lot of time and
effort. And if you’re not needed, find a reason not to
attend. Forget office politics—these days,
productivity is more important; 4) A precise ending
time. If matters are now fully resolved after one hour,
create a list of what needs to be done to get the matter
resolved, divide it among the participants so that each
person knows what he or she must do, and schedule
another meeting after that work has been completed.
- Stop leaving voicemails with instructions. More than
90 percent of all communication takes place
non-verbally. So if you simply speak words, they will be
interpreted by the other person according to that person’s
experience, education and beliefs. If you want someone
to do something for you or with you, you must have them
tell you in their own words what they’re going to do
and how they’re going to do it. This is best done in
person, but if that’s not possible, the phone is the
next best solution.
So if you feel as if you’ve been drowning in
communications clutter, you’re not alone. Try these
simple ideas, and you’ll gain the breathing room you
crave to do the things that bring you a sense of
personal achievement and success. And in the process,
maybe you’ll inspire others to clean up their
communications, too!
© Copyright 2002 Robin L. Silverman. All Rights Reserved.
Robin L. Silverman helps
individuals and businesses create the future they want by focusing
the power of their inner brilliance on the results they desire. She
is the author of "The Ten Gifts" and "Something
Wonderful is About to Happen" (January, 2003). In addition, she
speaks on topics like, "Get the Monkey Off Your Back" and
"Decluttering Your Communications."
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